The Civil Society Support Program provides assistance to civil society and its leaders in order to ensure: the mobilization of the citizens for identifying and solving common problems; protection of the interests of the needed; the accountability of the state institutions and improvement of the public sector governance. During the last several years the program was working in the following direction: institutional development of the civil society organizations, Regional and European integration, civic education and civil integration.

Supporting the research development was defined to be one of the main priorities of 2010. In order to ensure the active engagement of the civil sector in the policy-making process, it is essential to strengthen the research capacities of the civil society organizations. In addition, the study of the problems faced by the Civil Society will help the foundation in defining and improving the program approaches. Despite the fact, that plenty of similar researches have been implemented in this direction, there is a need for studying and analyzing new tendencies and development dynamics. The changeable social environment gave birth to new issues related to youth, marginal and vulnerable groups and these issues must become the subject for the discussion and attention from society's side.

Goal:

The competition is aimed at supporting the objective research and analysis of the issues related to NGOs' development, youth, marginal and vulnerable groups in order to reveal the problematic issues that should be solved immediately and to establish the new vision of Civil Society Development.

Research themes:

Many themes related to civil society development should be thoroughly studied and it is impossible to cover them all within one competition. The foundation supports the conduction of the researches on the following themes:

1.      Non-governmental organizations - their role in establishing democratic values in the country; NGO's relationship with the society; resources and mechanisms used to ensure the civil engagement; collaborations and creation of coalitions in order to solve the issues important for the society; campaigns initiated by the civil society; collaboration with the public and private sectors; participation in public policy and influence on policy-making; legislative basis for regulating the NGO activity; NGOs' human resources and institutional development needs.

2.      Marginal and vulnerable groups - studying the needs of marginal and vulnerable groups; analyzing the legislation that protects rights of NGOs, implementation strategy and practice; participation in the decision-making process implemented by these groups and analysis of the problems related to their engagement; integration of marginal and vulnerable groups into society; analysis of the existing local and international programs aimed at helping marginal and vulnerably groups.

3.      Youth - youth's engagement in democratic processes; defining the factors that promote youth's activity and engagement; studying youth policy, legislative basis and implementation strategy; defining the organizations working on youth issues and evaluating their institutional capacities.

Eligibility:

All local non-governmental organizations, research organizations and other groups of civil society that are registered and implement their activities in Georgia are eligible to participate in the competition. It is obligatory for the applicant to have experience in conducting research on civil society development issues. The academic institutions are also eligible to apply with the guarantee that their project will directly refer to strengthening the civil society.

Competition Terms:

The "Open Society Georgia Foundation" will finance a maximum of four projects:

1.      Civil society organizations - one project

2.      Marginal and vulnerable groups - two project

3.      Youth - one project

The interested candidates are required to submit the following documents:

1.      Grant application (the applicant must submit the project to OSGF by using the standard grant application form (http://www.osgf.ge/?1=1&i=326)

2.      The CVs of the project participants ( project director, members of the group and experts) must be attached to the project

3.      Two recommendation letters from the experts or representatives of the organizations working in this field

4.      Sample of the conducted research.

The overall budget of the project should not exceed USD 10 000.

All the applications within the competition must be submitted in three copies and be registered in the OSGF office reception. The submitted materials shall not be returned to the authors.

The competition materials can be submitted to the "Open Society Georgia Foundation" office (10 Chovelidze Street) on the daily basis till 16:00 PM. The deadline for the submission of the applications is May 24, 2010.

All drafts must be submitted to the foundation by the end of July.

Winner organizations should prepare the final report in Georgian and English languages before August 15, 2010.

During the research the applicant will be able to use the OSGF library and electronic resources.

Consultations for interested parties will be held on Thursdays, May 13 and 20, at 16:00 PM in OSGF office (10 Chovelidze Street, Phones: 25 05 92; 25 04 63)

Contact Person: Ani Akhalkatsi, Civil Society Support Program Coordinator, E-mail: ani@osgf.ge